Jon Nolan has no doubts about the importance of Town’s next fixture, at home to relegation rivals Reading on Saturday, and has billed it as “the biggest game of the season by a mile.”

Midfielder Nolan, who has become a first team regular in recent weeks, even believes it could be the biggest of his entire career alongside last season’s League One play-off final when he was in the Shrewsbury team pipped by Rotherham at Wembley.

The 26-year-old Scouser looked ahead to the Royals’ visit and said: “It’s the biggest game of the season by a mile. Nothing else will come into our minds but the need to win it.

“Win that game and we cut the gap between us and Reading to six points.

“If we win it will be massive for our confidence going into the last 11 games of the season.

“We must go out there and give it our all and hope that we can get the win we so badly want.

“The pressure is huge but it’s part and parcel of football really. Everyone has to deal with pressure but hopefully we can channel it in the right way, turn in a good performance and get the points.

“As big games go, I think the game at Wembley and the one on Saturday are both as big as each other.

“But they are at totally different ends of the spectrum. In terms of importance, both hugely important and right up there as the biggest games of my career so far.

“We’ve got to go into Saturday’s game with confidence — otherwise we’ve got no chance. If we lose it looks bleak but we’re not going to lose, we’re going to win this one!”

Victory for Town would be only their fourth of a traumatic season and only manager Paul Lambert’s third from his 20 games in charge since replacing the axed Paul Hurst four months ago.

As things stand they remain nine points adrift of safety but to overcome one of their closest rivals — Reading are currently fourth from bottom — would be a tremendous fillip to their already slim chances of avoiding the drop into League One.

They had victory snatched away at Wigan last week when, despite losing Jonas Knudsen to a red card in the 25th minute, they went ahead seven minutes later when Will Keane converted from the spot.

Keane, on loan from Hull, had to go off with a hamstring injury and the Latics levelled in the closing seconds of normal time through ex-Town striker Joe Garner.

Nolan added: “Normally, for any team having 10 men for so long, coming away with a point would be a good result.

“But we defended unbelievably well for the whole time we had 10 men so it actually felt like a loss to draw 1-1. We will take the positives from the game and the main one is that we played well.

“We can take positives from our last three games, and plenty of others before that, because it has all been there in terms of the performances.

“The best way of knowing that is the reaction of the fans, who have shown they are fully behind us and appreciate what we are trying to do.

“They can see we are giving it our all but it really is crunch time now and we need to start putting a few wins on the board.

“Time is definitely not on our side but with 12 games still to play that’s 36 points still to play for. Saturday is a massive one.”

Nolan will be making a fifth successive first team start at the weekend and has featured regularly under Lambert.

“When called upon I will always do my very best for the team,” he continued.

“I think my performances have been pretty good and I feel they have improved as the season has gone on. I believe most of my performances for the new manager have been good.

“The one exception, I’d have to say, was the Accy (Accrington Stanley) FA Cup tie. That was a bad one all round.

“Hopefully between now and the end of the season I can keep chipping away with some goals.

“I’m trying my hardest to get into the box as often as possible because that’s what we need — goals — especially as we have so many front players out with injury.

“Will Keane is a massive loss. I thought he had been excellent since coming in from Hull and I thought he was excellent in the game at Wigan before he had to come off.

“He’s been a big player for us and I just hope he’s not going to be absent for too long.

“But we now need people to step up, players who have to be confident about coming in and doing a job for the team.

“Whoever the gaffer calls upon — and we all know our jobs — needs to put a shift in. That’s the only way we can have any hope of winning games.”

Photo: TWTD

runningout added 16:07 - Feb 28 they're big games. Shame we haven't turned up for most fo them
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BlueBlood90 added 16:10 - Feb 28 Not to put a dampener on things and be negative, but how is this the biggest game of the season? Our biggest games have already been and gone, and unfortunately we barely won any of them. Even if we do win on Saturday, we're still going to be at least 6 points from safety with virtually no hope of staying up.
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raycrawfordswig added 16:31 - Feb 28 Wacky scouse humour.
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Jim added 17:15 - Feb 28 I think of all of the signings made in the summer, this one has disappointed me the most. I was quite excited when we were linked with him because he looked like a central midfielder who could score goals, assist and carry the ball (something we have lacked for a long time). Not sure if it is a confidence thing but he just doesn't seem to do anything in a game apart from run around a bit and get rid of the ball as quickly as he can. Really hoping he can be a big player in league 1 next season like he was for Shrewsbury

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